Visit London – Tate Modern

Marcus Dickey Horley lavora alla Tate Modern di Londra, il paradiso dell’arte contemporanea. Ascoltate cosa ci racconta del museo e di Londra!

Marcus Dickey Horley (Standard British accent)

I work here at Tate Modern as the curator of Access and Special Projects, which means that my job here is to create events that engage diverse audiences with the Tate collection.
Before I worked at Tate, I was probably more interested in old master painting and art from pre-20th century, but coming here to Tate Modern has totally opened my eyes to work, which perhaps before I wouldn’t have paid much attention to.
Tate Modern really has got something for everybody, and don’t worry if you don’t know anything at all about modern art. You know, paint on canvas is actually a really simple thing. It’s just a bit of material and a bit of pigment mixed with oil, and what’s so special about that is in the hands of an artist it transforms magically into something that can express one human emotion to another human being.
I remember one occasion when I was telling a group of visitors all about the masterpieces we have on the wall by Mark Rothko, and at the end of my talk a young woman came up to me and she said, “Hello. I just want to let you know that I am Mark Rothko’s niece.” Well, I was so surprised, and I thought, “What have I just said about your uncle?” And so I did a quick rewind, but, luckily, she said to me that she was so pleased and impressed with what I’d said and she was quite glad that I’d honoured her uncle with this kind of talk about his work.
We’re directly opposite St Paul’s, with the Millennium Bridge. We get five-million visitors per year, and sometimes it feels not just like an art gallery, but more like the United Nations with all the visitors from every corner of the world here.

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